App.net Goes Free – Hardly Anyone Notices

The social network for nerds, App.net now has a free option for users who don’t want to splash the cash. The news seems to have had very little impact on the world outside the network.

Before the change, users could only use App.net if they paid $36 per year or $5 per month. The theory being that if users pay for the service rather than advertisers, the service will evolve in a more user-centric manner.

The new free option is typical of a freemium offer. It’s like try before you buy. Free users can only currently be invited by paid members and only have limited access to the service.

Where paid users get the full spectrum of usage, freemium members have the following limitations:

They can only follow a maximum of 40 users

Only 500 MB of available file storage

Maximum file upload size of 10 MB

If you do receive an invite from someone, check it out and don’t give up if you don’t immediately understand what’s going on. There’s something – I don’t know what – about this App.net thing that seems to resonate with me.

While you’re there, give me a shout. I go by the username of @LStacey. As Bob Hoskins used to say “it’s good to talk”.